1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general relates to devices for the inhalation of vapors and, more particularly, to devices that are adapted to vaporize an essential oil of an organic substance prior to its inhalation.
There are a great many organic substances from which an essential oil can be extracted. If the essential oil is heated sufficiently, the essential oil will experience a change of state from a liquid into a gaseous state (i.e., a vapor) and will do so without any combustion occurring.
The vaporized essential oil can then be inhaled to provide a great variety of benefits without inhaling the toxic components that would be present if combustion occurred.
Discovering the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of inhaled vaporized essential oils is likely to become a leading-edge technology. There are enormous varieties of plants from which an essential oil can be extracted, vaporized, and then inhaled. The benefits of but a few of them are only partially understood, at best. With the passage of time it is almost for certain that many benefits, some moderate and some profound, will be discovered appertaining to the inhalation of various types of vaporized essential oils. If benefit is possible through pulmonary entry (i.e., the lungs), the instant invention applies.
To cite but a few candidate essential oils for use with the instant invention, Elecampane, Thyme, and Eucalyptus are compounds that may be useful in treating lung problems. It is important to understand that the essential oil that is inhaled can also be used to treat any deficiency or malady, including those that do not involve pathos of the lungs. In such instances, the lungs provide an alternate path of entry for the active ingredients of the essential oil into the bloodstream, from which any organ can be affected as desired or intended. This is described in greater detail hereinafter.
One possible benefit regarding the use of essential oils is that they may be easier to measure and therefore to set standards or regulate for consistency of quality (i.e., potency). Therefore the potential quality from one batch of essential oil as compared to another batch can be held to as tight a tolerance as desired and as allowed by technology. Accordingly, a user may be assured of a far more uniform quality when using essential oils as compared to using the raw plant material, the quality of which varies widely depending upon where it was extracted and many other factors.
As but one example of the potential use of an essential oil, there are currently well known medicinal uses for marijuana (i.e., hemp) when the essential oil components are inhaled. It can be used to treat various psychological disorders and also to ameliorate pain.
A common current method for the inhalation of the essential components (i.e., active ingredients) of marijuana includes the making of a pseudo-type of a cigarette or the use of a pipe into which a quantity of selected plant material is inserted. The plant material is then combusted (i.e., a source of heat or flame is applied thereto) and the smoke that is produced by combustion is subsequently inhaled. Inhalation provides a path through the lungs and bloodstream by which the active ingredients are absorbed. However, this method incurs several disadvantages.
For one thing, such use is illegal in certain areas and is therefore prohibited. Another disadvantage is that combustion generally produces a wide spectrum of toxic and carcinogenic by-products that are harmful to inhale. The tobacco companies are quite familiar with the deleterious effects from the by-products of combustion.
However, the use of an essential oil solves many problems in that the essential oil can potentially be legally extracted from the marijuana plant, sold (perhaps by prescription), possessed, and used without violating local, state, or federal statutes. This is because certain of the statutes that regulate such use may appertain to possession of the plant per se, and not necessarily to an extract of its essential oil.
Since the essential oil is heated only to the degree necessary to vaporize it for inhalation, no combustion occurs and therefore none of the harmful compounds associated with combustion are produced or inhaled.
Also, as mentioned before the quality of an essential oil can be held to uniform standards of potency.
A known prior art device exists that is profoundly limited and is comprised essentially of a glass tube that is open at a first end and which includes an enlarged bulb at an opposite second end. A user inhales from the first end. A single small opening is provided at the top of the enlarged bulb. An essential oil is added through the opening at the top of the bulb and allowed to settle in the bottom of the bulb which is then heated to vaporize the oil for inhalation.
The first limitation is that it is difficult to add potentially expensive essential oils through the opening at the top. Spillage is likely to occur. Once the oil has been added it is then especially difficult to remove any unused portion from the bulb.
It is also especially difficult to clean the bulb (where the oil has been heated) due to limited access.
Neither is it possible to use the bulb for the clean long-term storage of the oil (because of the two openings that would tend to dry it out).
Nor is possible to use the bulb for the storage of several different types of essential oils. This is desirable for those whom, by way of necessity, can optimally benefit by the inhalation of several different vaporized essential oils.
Also, the intake path (during inhalation) does not ensure the uniform mixing of the vaporized essential oil with the intake stream of air, thereby producing unpredictable results. Sometimes too little a quantity of the vapor will be inhaled, sometimes too much will be inhaled.
Nor is there any known way of adapting an existing pipe for use with an essential oil vaporizer.
The inhalation of a vaporized essential oil may also be useful in avoiding exposure of the beneficial components (i.e., compounds) thereof to enzymes that are present in the stomach. Certain stomach enzymes may destroy or diminish the efficacy of certain compounds that are taken orally. Inhalation provides an alternative path for the entry of these compounds or active ingredients into the bloodstream that averts contact with stomach enzymes.
Accordingly there exists today a need for an essential oil vaporizer that is easy to use and which adequately mixes the vapor with the inhalation stream and which is versatile.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be a useful and desirable device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Vaporizers are, in general, known. For example, the following patents describe various types of these devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,295,982 to Reed, Jr., October, 2, 2001;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,301 to Pate, Jun. 26, 2001;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,153 to Kessler, et al., Aug. 1, 2000; and
U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,083 to Burruss, Jr., Dec. 1, 1981.
While the structural arrangements of the above types of devices, at first appearance, may have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.